Connections
by dogbertcarroll
Summary: Jimmy ended up on the streets of Brockton Bay, a city filled with parahuman gangs, after the death of his parents, but it beat ending up in the system as far as he was concerned. Now all he had to do was keep himself clothed, fed, and pass his GED when he turned 18. Piece of cake, right?
1. Chapter 1

**Connections**

**Disclaimer: I own no Intellectual Property claimed by Wildbow or Time Warner, nor am I writing this for profit. **

Jimmy awoke slowly, he felt groggy and stiff. "Did I smoke something I shouldn't have?" he wondered aloud as he got to his feet. He brushed himself off, not that it did much good. His clothes were heavily worn and looked like they hadn't been washed in a while. His woolen gloves seemed to spread the dirt around more than remove any of it.

His stomach growled, letting him know that he had more important things to do than stand around worrying about how he'd ended up sleeping in an alley. It was early enough that he was pretty sure he could probably get away with going through the dumpster behind one of the grocery stores downtown. It'd be at least an hour until they opened, so whatever security they had would still be patrolling inside.

He pulled his cap over his ears and stumbled down the alley working the stiffness out of his joints as he went.

Peeking out at the street from the end of the alley he examined the graffiti. From the number of swastikas and interlocked eights he could tell he was in Empire territory. 'Neo Nazis', not the kind of people I want to hang around with even if I am of an 'acceptable' skin tone', he thought to himself. Hating people for something as arbitrary as race never made sense to Jimmy, not when there were so many more sensible reasons to hate people.

Jimmy crossed the street, taking care to keep his pace even and unhurried. Running attracted the eye and he really didn't need to run into any gang bangers regardless of shape. The streets were almost empty of people as most were still sensibly in bed.

Crescent had a few shops, mostly electronics and thrift shops, along with a few odds and ends. Jimmy slid into the alley between a cell phone store and a residential block. It was poorly lit and there was a fair amount of trash overflowing the cans in the alley.

Empire Eighty Eight liked to keep out undesirables and the trash men sometimes skipped their territory for a week to encourage them not to harass their employees, as a good number of them weren't of the gang's preferred racial type. It was a low risk strategy the city's sanitation department employed to make sure city workers weren't harassed by gang members and so far it seemed to be working.

Maple was more industrialized, mostly small businesses and a few restaurants. Jimmy considered checking the dumpsters in the area, but wrote it off as too risky. Some places were rumored to add a little something to the food they threw out to reduce the… pest problem. If there ever was a big enough bastard to poison homeless people Jimmy figured they'd live in Empire territory.

"Luck seems to be with me today," Jimmy muttered as he made it out of Empire territory unmolested. Of course it was still early enough that most people were still in bed, so it really wasn't that big a surprise, he simply expected things to go wrong because they so often did.

There was one of the new super saver mega marts just a few blocks away that was easy to find. He stuck to the darker parts of the parking lot as he circled around to the back of the store. Just because security was lazy didn't mean they wouldn't get up off their ass if they saw something they couldn't ignore.

The store was big enough to have several dumpsters, and not small ones either. Jimmy climbed up the ladder alongside a massive blue dumpster and looked inside. He was relieved to see it was over three quarters full, otherwise it'd be a bitch to climb out of.

He dropped onto a pile of flattened boxes, falling on his ass as they slid out from under him. Jimmy sighed and climbed up onto his knees before crawling further in to see what he could scrounge up. His nose wrinkled at the smell. He checked the top layer first, knowing that the further down he dug the older the food would be and the longer it had sat in the dumpster.

"Fresh or rather not so fresh produce," Jimmy muttered as he found where they'd dumped yesterday's fruit and vegetables. "I'm going to need a shower after this." The smell of overripe produce wasn't really noticeable drowned out by the stench of curdled milk and molding bread, so he mainly had to sort by sight to try and find what was salvageable.

In the end he decided to take his chances with some brown bananas and questionable looking oranges, as most of the rest was a mix of rotting and mangled. He set the fruit on a clear section of cardboard and moved to another area to dig through.

"Shirts," he noted, finding a small bundle of red and green shirts that had been thrown out. Holding one out he found that it was for some marathon that had been held the year before and looked like someone had slashed it with a knife. "Why… Because they didn't want anyone being able to wear them," Jimmy realized. "God forbid some homeless person get some use out of their trash. People are dicks."

Another five minutes of searching added a half-crushed box of saltines and an almost full bottle of coconut dream shampoo. Jimmy decided he'd spent as much time here as he dared and emptied a store bag filled with receipts to stuff everything in. He took one of the slashed shirts as well. He could use it for rags if nothing else, he just really felt the need to find a use for one to spite whoever had damaged them.

He peeked over the edge of the dumpster, making sure no one was waiting to ambush him when he climbed out. Security at some places liked to take out a little of their frustration at having a dead-end job on the homeless to discourage them coming around and upsetting the more upwardly mobile customers with their presence.

Jimmy pulled himself out of the dumpster and climbed down, keeping an eye out as he made his way back to the street and headed for the docks. There was a half-sunk tug in the ships graveyard where he could wash up and eat, provided no cape was lurking about testing some destructive power anyway.

If not for that potential danger he'd have made his home there, but a near miss from a tinker testing some type of energy blaster the week before had convinced him that it was actually safer to stick to sleeping in the streets.

His mind drifted back to an incident just last month...

Jimmy flinched back as a beam of bright blue light shot past barely missing him as it slammed into a rat.

"Baaa!" the former rat bleated, before it found its coat jarringly white and fluffy as it fled.

"Sorry, my bad!" the tinker called out as he and his friend worked on adjusting something on the cannon they were building, as if they hadn't just turned a wharf rat into a sheep.

Sure you could get stabbed or shot sleeping on the street, but at least you could be fairly sure no one could turn you into a sheep on accident.

"Fucking tinkers," he muttered grumpily as he continued on his way.

**0o0o0o0o0o**

Jimmy locked the door to the tug's interior behind himself and let out a relieved sigh. It may not have power or any form of temperature control, but it had thick walls and a door that he could lock, so it was the closest thing to home and safety he had.

He climbed down the stairs to the engine room. The room had been completely gutted leaving a large empty space that opened into the bay. The floor and lower sections of the walls near the back of the room were missing, probably torn off by whatever had taken the engine, letting in water and what sunlight leaked in from the bay itself. The water in the bay was not exactly a fresh mountain spring, but it was clean enough for Jimmy's purposes.

"Better wash my clothes while I have the chance," Jimmy decided rinsing the fruit off in the brackish water before scarfing them down, it was far from the best meal, but overall he was satisfied with it. He tossed the peels in the shopping back and took out the shampoo. "It's going to take forever for my clothes to dry," he realized with a sigh as he started getting undressed putting everything he didn't want to get wet on the one surviving bench that was welded to the bulkhead.

It took nearly half an hour before he was satisfied with the state of his clothes. It may have taken a bit of effort to rinse out the shampoo, but it made a surprisingly good laundry detergent.

Carrying his wet clothes, he made his way back up to the wheelhouse and spread them out to dry. Lacking anything else to wear he put on the slashed-up shirt and looked around for something to occupy himself while he waited.

Whoever had once owned the ship before it had been run aground had amassed a decent amount of fantasy novels and back issues of Playboy, so Jimmy relaxed in a chair and settled down to read for a few hours.

**0o0o0o0o0o**

Sophia slipped into the boat graveyard, the hood on her dark gray sweatshirt pulled up to hide her mask. She didn't have the funds for much of a costume, but a hockey mask and pair of sweats would do until she could afford better.

Shifting into her shadow form she passed through the hull of a ship to throw off any possible tails. She'd had an idea about a new use for her power and didn't want to take the chance of some scrub spotting her practicing with it and carrying word back to the gangs.

Spotting a tugboat that was half in the water she decided to practice inside it where no one could see. She phased through the hull and floated up through the floor into the bridge and froze, staring in surprise.

Jimmy stared at the girl in the hockey mask for a second before recovering. "I just read it for the articles."

Sophie tilted her head down to look at his waist before realizing what she'd done and blushing heavily behind her mask.

"He likes the pictures," Jimmy drawled out, refusing to be embarrassed, despite his state of dress and… condition.

Sophie quickly ghosted through the wall and vanished.

"Fucking capes," Jimmy said shaking his head before checking his clothes to see if they were dry yet.

"Another hour," he decided before retaking his seat and seeing what Miss April thought was a good first date.

**That evening**

Jimmy collected his wool cap and pocketed the small amount of money people had tossed in. It was getting late and he needed to find somewhere safe to bed down for the night. Spotting a few merchants on the edge of the park, plying their wares, he decided to chance some place on the edge of ABB territory.

Normally he'd avoid it, but he'd heard the rumors, The Merchants would grab homeless people and forcibly addict them to their stuff so they'd have no choice but to join them. There was never any hard evidence, but it seemed like something they'd do, so Jimmy wasn't taking any chances.

Keeping an eye out for anyone that was paying too much attention to him, he exited the park and kept to the main streets which were well lit and populated by people he was fairly sure weren't going to kidnap him. He was a little out of place and drew some looks, but most were too preoccupied with getting home to pay much attention to a homeless boy.

Living on the streets made you more and less visible to people at the same time. People would watch you out of the corner of their eye if you got too close, just in case you turned out to be dangerous since there was an almost universal assumption that something had to be wrong with you to end up this way, while at the same time not really seeing you as you weren't really a person to them just a potential problem.

Being homeless hadn't done Jimmy's view of humanity any favors, that was for sure.

"You holding?"

Jimmy froze and realized he'd lost track of what was going on around him, a mistake.

Two large men with shaved heads blocked his path, Empire goons, easily identified by the tats and piercings which displayed common symbols of their hateful ideology.

Jimmy held his hands out to show they were empty before taking off his battered leather jacket and extending his arms.

"What's that for?" one of the thugs asked confused.

"Show's he ain't using," the other said. "He ain't a Merchant bringing poison into our community."

"Good on you, kid. The Jews invented that shit to weaken our people."

Jimmy nodded and put back on his jacket.

"You a believer?" the first one asked.

"I prefer to hate people on an individual basis," Jimmy admitted. "Most people are assholes in my experience."

The two laughed.

"Can't say I disagree, kid. Have a nice night."

"You too," Jimmy said as they parted to let him through. He mentally breathed a sigh of relief, he hadn't meant to disagree with them, but his mouth tended to move faster than his brain when he was nervous. Thankfully those two had been a lot more personable than the gang bangers he normally ran into.

He paid a lot closer attention to his surroundings as he passed through Empire territory and a few blocks later he spotted fresh red and green tags that let him know he was in the clear… at least from the Neo Nazis. Of course now he was entering AZN Bad Boy territory where his skin color could get him jumped if he was lucky and stabbed if he wasn't.

Jimmy ducked down a side alley, carefully skirting the area until he found what he'd been looking for.

The dumpster behind Zag's electronics wasn't locked, as someone had busted the latch on it long ago. It was even odds whether it was a junkie looking for something to sell or a tinker looking for supplies, but either way it was exactly what he was looking for.

Jimmy looked around to make sure he was alone before climbing inside. The trash was mostly broken electronics and empty cardboard packaging, and with a little work he made himself a comfortable bed, out of the weather and the eyes of anyone who might take offense to his existence.

Covering himself with loose sheets of cardboard he relaxed. Sure the sun had just set a little over an hour ago, but he found it was a lot safer to be out and about in the early hours of the morning rather than at night when the gangs came out to play.

He yawned and let himself drift off to sleep… only to be awoken an indeterminate time later by the screech and rumble of someone moving the dumpster. Jimmy froze, his heart hammering against his chest as he tried to figure out what was going on.

"...block the alley," a voice continued as the noise of the dumpster being shoved across the ground stopped.

"They could just ram the dumpster," someone complained.

"Ain't happened yet and we've pulled it off plenty of times," the first voice assured him. "Now, let's get to our spots."

Jimmy sighed softly, it was just his luck to pick the only dumpster in the alley that some pricks were going to use to rob someone. He really wished he could say it surprised him, but if there were two things he was sure of it was that most people were assholes and his luck sucked balls.

After a few minutes of waiting Jimmy felt himself beginning to doze off once more and pulled some more trash over himself so no one would see him if they opened the dumpster. His last thought before he fell asleep was that at least he didn't snore.

He awoke with a start as he heard a shout from outside the dumpster, "Get out of the car!"

Apparently the ambush they'd set up had finally happened. Hopefully it'd end quickly so he could go back to sleep.

"You're a pretty little thing," one of the gang members said with a leer that Jimmy could actually hear.

Jimmy gritted his teeth and tried to tell himself that it wasn't his business, shit happened all the time in the bay.

"Why don't we fix that for you," someone said and the snick of a knife being flicked open echoed loudly in the alley.

'Fuck', Jimmy thought to himself as he heard the girl whimper while a male voice tried to plead with them to leave his daughter alone. He felt around in the dumpster for something he could use as a weapon and found a rubbery cylinder with some weight to it.

Jimmy took a deep breath and got his feet under himself. Hearing a scuffle he threw back the lid of the dumpster and leapt out. The girl was wrestling with an Asian teen who had a knife while a second one was holding a gun on a middle-aged man in a nice suit.

Jimmy cracked a third gang member in the head with his makeshift club sending him to the ground. He quickly followed it with a boot to the thugs head, knocking him out. The gang member with the gun turned toward Jimmy, but a hockey masked figure in dark sweats came out of nowhere and landed on him feet first, crushing him to the ground.

Jimmy rushed forward and cracked the final thug across the face, breaking his nose and causing him to drop his knife. The red haired teen took the chance to knee him in the groin making him stumble back where the figure in sweats slammed a right into his jaw, knocking him out.

There was silence for the moment before the man said, "Oh, thank god!" like an actual prayer, hugging his daughter tightly and the two teen girls turned to Jimmy and looked at him before finding their gazes drawn to the weapon in his hand.

Jimmy could practically feel their incredulous stare and looked down at what he was holding… a two-foot-long neon pink dildo as big around as his wrist. He flung it over his shoulder, it landed in the open dumpster with a heavy thunk. "It was the only thing nearby I could use as a weapon," Jimmy said. He looked at the masked girl. "You again?"

"At least you have pants on this time," she said with a snort.

"I was doing laundry," Jimmy said before one of the gangsters groaned and he kicked him in the head, knocking him unconscious once more.

"Sure you were," she said with a smirk he could feel. "What are you doing here?"

"Sleeping," Jimmy said honestly, "I just had the bad luck to pick the only dumpster in all of the bay that was going to be used in a crime." He knelt down by the first guy he'd knocked out and patted him down with an ease that spoke of long practice, retrieving two knives, a wallet and a couple of small plastic bags filled with brown powder. He pocketed one of the knives and all the cash from the wallet before moving onto the second thug and stripping him of his possessions as well.

The girl in the mask knelt down and searched the third one, mimicking Jimmy's actions. "You a cape?" she asked cautiously.

"Not unless bad luck and a general disdain for humanity is a superpower," Jimmy said, piling the weapons and drugs on the ground for the police to find. He tossed half the cash the second guy had on him to the masked girl.

She chuckled. "If they're not, they should be." She pulled out a handful of zip ties and restrained the criminals.

The redhead, who couldn't have been more than fourteen, wiggled out of her father's arms and stepped up to the pair. Jimmy absently noted the tear tracks on her face. "Thank you," she said, "I thought they were going to kill me."

"Maybe, but you'd have gotten some licks in," the masked girl said with approval, "you're a fighter."

"I've called the police, they'll collect these monsters shortly," the redhead's father said. "I don't know how I can ever repay you."

"Emma," the redhead said offering her hand to the masked girl.

"Shadow Stalker," the young cape replied almost crushing her hand as she shook it, before they turned to Jimmy.

"I'm… the fuck outta here," Jimmy said suddenly, quickly turning and leaving, the last thing he heard before he rounded the corner was Emma asking, "Why did he smell like Coconut Dream?"

**AN: I had a crazy idea for a story I shared with Mist-of-Shadows and he pointed out that the main character would end up as a character-in-name-only if I did it as I'd planned. My response was 'Well, then why don't we take his name as well?' The next chapter will make it pretty clear who he is, just as this chapter made it pretty clear where he is. Hope you enjoyed it. Remember to review!**

**Typing by: fyrewolf5**

**TN: As soon as he grabbed the "weapon" in the dumpster I figured it would be something like that, the color was a touch unexpected, but in hindsight wasn't really surprising, because of course it would be neon pink.**


	2. Chapter 2

Jimmy was rudely jostled aside by a man in an expensive suit who muttered about vagrants under his breath before he stepped up to the counter and placed his order.

Jimmy's anger seemed to explode out of him and the man's hair suddenly turned blue. He quickly turned and left the donut shop before anyone noticed and commented. This was the third time this had happened and while Jimmy wasn't upset about having powers, the ability to turn people's hair blue was distinctly underwhelming, especially as it seemed to be somewhat random unlike what he'd heard about most parahuman abilities.

Of course he hadn't intentionally tried to use it yet, the first time it had happened he'd thought it was just a coincidence that he'd been trying to kill someone with his mind when it had occurred because he'd never heard of a parahuman with a power that weak, it was only during the second time that he'd accepted it was him doing it.

"Lamest power ever," Jimmy muttered as he moved down the block to find another donut place to eat at.

It'd been two weeks since he'd rolled the thugs in the alley with Shadow Stalker and between that and his usual panhandling, he'd been able to avoid eating out of dumpsters, but dealing with the fine upstanding citizens of Brockton Bay was really making him wonder if that was a wise decision.

'Dealing with spoiled food is better than dealing with spoiled people', he thought to himself, before his stomach grumbled its dissent and he entered another shop. It was a small place with an old woman behind the counter who eyed him suspiciously as he entered. She had three customers, none of which were under fifty.

"A dozen plain," Jimmy said as he stepped up to the register.

"Sure you can afford it?" she gestured to the board.

"I can handle four dollars," Jimmy replied, pulling a five dollar bill out of his pocket.

"How about two dozen assorted day old for five?" she offered.

"No tax?" he asked, not wanting to pull out the rest of his cash, which he kept in an inside pocket so if anyone mugged him they'd just get the five.

"No tax," she assured him and received a nod in return as he handed her the money. She pocketed the money and vanished into the back room returning a minute later with a large brown bag. "I usually have 'day olds' on Tuesdays and Thursdays."

"I'll try to stop by," Jimmy said, pleased with the deal. He turned and left, deciding to eat at the tug. He could relax and catch up on his reading, plus his clothes could use a good wash and so could he.

Jimmy carefully skirted gang territory, keeping to the main streets, until he could reach the boardwalk. It was a pricey tourist area and had private security that would run off vagrants with special encouragement applied to those that resisted via their nightclubs.

One of the enforcers casually headed towards him as Jimmy walked along the railing above the beach. "Just passing through, sir," Jimmy quickly said, "not planning on causing any trouble or hanging around."

"What's in the bag?" the large well built black man asked, with a voice that was remarkably similar to James Earl Jones.

"Donuts, day old," Jimmy said, opening the bag so he could see.

The man nodded. "On your way, don't dawdle."

"Yes, sir," Jimmy said, closing the bag and continuing on.

A lot of people disliked the enforcers and some of them were complete pricks, but Jimmy really couldn't find fault with them in general. They served a purpose, making sure the tourist areas remained profitable by keeping out those that would interfere in that goal.

The city had little enough honest work available and tourist dollars kept a number of people employed, so Jimmy understood and did his best to keep out of the way. The boardwalk was filled with overpriced ritzy stores, so it was remarkably easy for him to do.

He let out a sigh of relief as he passed beyond the edge of the boardwalk, relaxing as some of the tension left him. Running into the wrong enforcer could leave you with more than just bruises and there was always the chance they could get the authorities involved.

Keeping an ear out for any strange noises that indicated a cape testing something Jimmy made his way to his tug.

He scarfed down a donut, jelly filled, the moment he locked the door behind himself. Setting the bag on the captain's chair he went to wash up, now that he was paying attention to it, he realized he was more than a bit whiffy.

A good thirty minutes later Jimmy was relaxing in the chair as his clothes dried catching up on his reading. He'd just opened a bottle and taken one of the pills inside when a voice said, "I thought you weren't a druggy."

Jimmy almost choked and had to take a quick drink of water to clear his windpipe. He glared at the hockey masked girl and tossed the bottle of pills to her.

"Multivitamins?" Shadow Stalker asked, surprised.

"I don't exactly have a balanced diet," Jimmy reminded her, catching the bottle of pills as she tossed it back to him.

"I can see why you'd take multivitamins," she admitted. "I've stopped by a couple of times in the last couple of weeks and haven't seen you."

"I don't live here, too dangerous," Jimmy replied, "I only come here to relax and wash up."

"I can see that," she says, forcing her eyes to stay on his.

"Why have you been looking for me?" he asked tossing his magazine on the console.

She leaned back against the wall. "It's not often I find someone who's not like the sheep."

"Sheeple," Jimmy replied with a nod, the word coming to his mind unbidden. "Yeah, most people are like that, easily lead and only dangerous in large numbers."

"I have a hard time seeing sheep as anything to fear," she replied.

"Herd animals are easily spooked, but a herd of prey animals will stomp a lion to death if they're not cautious. Beware stupid people in large groups, you may be able to take out half a dozen, but you'll still get stomped," Jimmy said. "I avoid them for the most part."

"There are people who aren't sheep mixed in," she pointed out, "hard to find and you have to test them, but they're there."

"I know," Jimmy admitted, "I just find it easier to live like this than to deal with the sheep. Besides, the last thing I want is to end up in the system and be forced to spend all my time surrounded by a bunch of dumbasses. In a couple of years I'll be legal, then I can do what I want."

"Figured you had no family," Shadow Stalker said bluntly, "but the system ain't that bad."

"For you maybe," Jimmy said with a sigh, "but me? Faced with stupidity I can't let it slide, so I get in trouble and having shit on my record would complicate things when I'm an adult. Nah, better to lay low until I can legally handle my own life and make enough money to get a cabin in the mountains somewhere."

"Sounds kinda lonely," Shadow Stalker said, shoulders slumping for a moment before she straightened up and pretended she hadn't said that. "I meant dull," she corrected herself.

"I'm not adverse to taking a few people who aren't assholes with me," Jimmy said.

"You fought pretty well for not being a cape," Shadow Stalker said, changing the subject.

"I beat a couple of idiots with a massive dildo," Jimmy deadpanned making her laugh, "it's not like they were well trained or anything."

"You got any training?" she asked curiously.

"I've picked up some things on the street," he replied, "nothing major."

"You may not be a cape, but it's not like they check," Shadow Stalker pointed out. "Put on a mask, take out some thugs, make some money. Why sleep in a dumpster when you can live comfortably in an abandoned property with the right bribes?"

Jimmy looked at her not quite sure what she was getting at.

"There's properties that aren't legal to rent, but the caretakers are willing to overlook squatting for a little cash. Rolling gang members even just once a week is enough to afford some decent digs."

Jimmy frowned in thought. A safe place to sleep and some decent food and clothes was worth a lot, just not enough to deal with the system. Was it worth beating up some brainless thugs once a week? He slowly nodded. He'd get jumped at least twice a month on average as it was, being able to choose the place and time did make it safer.

"I hadn't considered running around in a costume before, but I like your idea," he admitted. "What do you have planned?"

"No hard plans, just thought that when I had the right target I could use a little backup," Shadow Stalker explained.

"I can probably handle that," Jimmy agreed, "simple ambushes and the like, not storming entrenched positions."

"If I'm hitting a stash house I'd just need help distracting them while I ghost in and rob the place," Shadow Stalker said, "I'm not stupid enough to hit them head on."

"I can work with that," Jimmy said.

"How can I find you when I need you?" she asked.

"I'll hang out here a bit more," Jimmy offered, leaning back in his chair, "catch up on my reading."

"Yeah, probably a good idea," she said, a smirk in her voice as she gave him an obvious once over and phased backwards through the wall.

Jimmy sighed as he realized he'd been naked the entire time. He glanced down and shook his head. "fucking hormones."

**Four days later**

One good thing about spending more time at the tug was it was easier to clean up, Jimmy thought as he relaxed and worked on some math problems from a battered textbook he'd gotten from a school dumpster.

"Somehow I knew you'd be naked," Shadow Stalker said, "though doing schoolwork is new."

Jimmy snickered. "I wouldn't be surprised to find that part of your power is surprising people while naked, but since this is where I come to wash up and do laundry..."

"Yeah, I can see that," she agreed, "along with everything else." Shadow Stalker unlocked the door and opened it, sticking her head out. "Come on in, Emma."

"I really should get some more clothes," Jimmy decided as the red-haired girl he met two weeks ago entered the wheel room and blushed nearly as red as her hair, but did not, he noted, turn away.

"Hi, it's good to see you," Emma offered.

Shadow Stalker laughed and locked the door once more. "Why don't you have more clothes anyway?"

"And why do you smell like my shampoo?" Emma blurted out.

"Things get stolen or destroyed by assholes," Jimmy explained, deciding his clothes were still too wet to put on and the pair had already seen everything he had, so he might as well not bother, "and I use coconut dream shampoo to wash my clothes. I like the smell and it's a pretty effective detergent."

Shadow Stalker pulled back her hood and took off her mask, revealing an attractive black girl. "Sophia," she introduced herself.

"Jimmy," he said offering a hand.

Sophia grabbed his hand and bore down on it, but he only smiled. "Got some strength to you," she said with approval.

"Are you a cape?" Emma asked eagerly, while she tried and failed to subtly look him over, noting the scar on his forehead and on his right arm halfway between the elbow and shoulder.

"If I am, I have the weakest powers ever," he replied. "I jumped those guys because I have a mental problem, not because I'm a cape. If I know someone's in trouble, I can't not help them," he explained.

Sophia laughed. "Most people wouldn't consider that a mental problem."

"It's heroic," Emma said licking her lips and moving closer to him.

"It's a pain in my ass at times," Jimmy said with a sigh. "I've jumped into situations without thinking about it where it would have been better to let people work it out among themselves. I've gotten better about it, but it is what it is."

"If not for you two I don't even want to think about what would have happened to me," Emma said moving to his side. "Math problems?" she asked surprised.

"When I turn eighteen, I'm going to take the GED," he explained, "hard to get a decent job without one, so I study in my spare time, of which I have a lot."

"Sounds like a lot of work for a useless piece of paper," Sophia said with a frown.

"You're looking at it the wrong way," Jimmy said. "Anything you can't do yourself you are forced to rely on someone else to do for you. You are conceding power over your own life to someone else and trusting them to take care of that aspect."

"Seriously?" Sophia asked looking a little doubtful.

Realizing he had the girls' attention he explained, "If you can not cook for yourself, you are dependent on others to cook for you. If you can not protect yourself, you are relying on others to protect you. Every single task you can not perform you must have others perform for you. If you want to be independent, be your own person, you have to be able to rely on yourself."

"There aren't enough hours in the day to learn everything," Sophia said shaking her head.

Jimmy nodded. "True, but the more you know the more control over your own life you have and you don't need to be an expert to make sure someone you've hired is doing their job, you just have to be competent. You've heard about how celebrities were screwed over in contracts and lottery winners have gone broke."

"And?" Emma asked eagerly.

"And ignorance was their downfall," Jimmy explained. "They should have been on top of the world with their futures set, but because they couldn't understand contracts or do basic finance, they lost it all. The more you know the more power you have over your own life."

Jimmy suddenly found his seat a bit crowded as Sophia had squeezed in next to him and Emma was sitting on his lap.

"What are we learning today?" Sophia demanded.

"Didn't you two come here for some other reason?" Jimmy asked, trying not to focus on how good it felt to be squeezed in between them.

"Going to have Emma play spotter while you arrange a distraction, maybe jump a guy, but probably just set off some car alarms, while I do a snatch and grab with a little arson tossed in for flavor at an Empire stash house," Sophia explained. "Now make with the teaching. What are we learning?"

"Basic algebraic equations," Jimmy replied, deciding just to roll with it and wondering where his little speech had come from.

**Typing by: fyrewolf5**

**TN: Now if only the source material was this good without being depressing and full of terrible things happening to people over and over.**


	3. Chapter 3

"That was easy," Emma said, sounding surprised.

"A lot easier than I was expecting," Sophia agreed.

"Easy on you, hard on me," Jimmy said dryly.

"Hard?" Emma jumped up face red, as she realized what he meant, she'd been so focused on what he'd been saying she'd completely blanked on the fact he'd been naked.

Sophia forced herself to get up slowly, ignoring the blush she was sporting.

"Maybe I should get dressed," Jimmy said. They'd been studying math for over an hour and he was pretty sure his clothes were dry by now.

"If you must," Sophia said, trying to sound casual and making Emma giggle.

Jimmy couldn't keep from snickering himself as he got dressed. "So, what's the plan?" he asked.

Sophia's grin was full of teeth. "Located an Empire stash house, not a big one, but one they keep at least two people guarding at all times. They try to keep things quiet, so if you can make some noise and draw them out, break some windows and duck into an alley, I can ghost in, rob the place and ghost out without them even knowing I was there."

"They probably have two shifts, though three would be smarter," Jimmy said. "If you know a good spot we can stake it out for a day and see. Maybe cause a fuss and see if they call in other people or handle it themselves, so there aren't any surprises."

"Good idea for a larger target, but this one is a simple in and out," Sophia argued, "and I'm the one taking all the risks."

"Your risk, your call," Jimmy agreed, making her smile.

"Doubt they're running four shifts, but even it they are two AM is the best time," Sophia explained, "cause I know they aren't running six."

"Yeah, I may be over preparing," Jimmy said. "Fine, I need a couple of good sized rocks, a brick, a paper bag and a quick visit to the park."

The two girls looked at him, confusion on their faces, but he just grinned.

**1:55am**

Shadow Stalker and Emma laid flat on the tar and gravel roof of the three story apartment building overlooking the duplex they were watching.

"Get ready, Jimmy's in position," Emma said before repeating her instructions, to make sure they were both on the same page and to settle her nerves, "I'll text when they take the bait, one text if they stay, two for if only one chases him, and three if he gets both. Any texts past that is a warning they're returning."

Shadow Stalker tapped her left breast to make sure the phone was in position. "Fuck yeah," she said excitedly before throwing herself off the building, her form turning into a shadow and sailing invisibly through the night sky.

Emma watched as Jimmy checked his watch, barely visible in the alley between two apartment complexes. As he stood up, she got out her phone and hit record, they were both going to want to see this later and it was good intel, she told herself with a grin.

Jimmy walked up to the front door of their target, pulled out a lighter, lit the paper bag he was holding on fire and set it on the welcome mat before pushing the doorbell and rushing back down the driveway, smashing a brick into the passenger side window of the car as he passed it, shattering the window, but not setting off an alarm.

The phone shook with laughter as Emma kept it pointed at their target. Two skinny white men with shaved heads rushed out the front door.

"What the fuck?!" the first skinhead shouted as he noticed the fire at their feet and they both instantly started stomping on it, trying to put it out and spreading the contents everywhere.

"What is that smell?" the second asked as they got the fire out and noticed the mess.

"It's shit!" the first one exclaimed disgusted and started looking around for who could have done it, quickly spotting the shattered side window on the car and the boy in the gray hoodie who cheerfully waved and started running.

The two immediately gave chase, rapidly gaining on him, but he had enough of a lead to duck into an alley and kick over a few cans to slow them down.

Emma stopped recording and sent a smile emoji to Shadow Stalker, waiting a moment before sending a second and then a third another second later as she watched for the Empire goons to return.

**0o0o0o0o**

Jimmy laughed loudly, the sound echoing in the alley as he heard the two cuss and kick things out of the way as they chased after him.

He hung back a little to let them get closer as he turned and lead them down another alley, banging the lid of a dumpster before squeezing through a small gap in the tall wooden fence that lead to the backyard of an abandoned house.

He forced himself to take slow deep breaths, sweat beading on his face under the hockey mask he was wearing beneath the hood, making his nose itch as he listened for sounds of pursuit.

"He's not in the fucking dumpster and I don't see him anywhere!" one of the thugs yelled.

Jimmy kept still in the shadow of the house, its faded grey paint a half decent match for the sweats he was wearing that should allow him to escape detection as long as no one shined a light on him.

"There's a gap in the fence here," one of the two thugs called to the other, trying and failing to squeeze through.

Jimmy kept still… until the back porch light came on.

"What's going on here?" a cranky old man asked as he opened the back door of the poorly maintained, but apparently not abandoned, house.

"There he is!" the thug shouted, easily spotting Jimmy. He quickly yanked out a gun and brought it up to fire.

Jimmy wished fervently he was anywhere else but where he was as the muzzle raised. Suddenly he felt as if he was being squeezed into a narrow tunnel, he heard a gunshot, and everything was dark.

Jimmy frantically patted himself down, but he didn't feel any pain and as his eyes adjusted to the darkness, he realized he was standing in the wheelroom of the tug.

**0o0o0o0o0o**

Emma heard the sound of a gunshot a block or so away and hoped that wasn't one of the Empire goons. She reminded herself that Jimmy had told her not to worry, he had prepared an escape route in advance and would meet them back at the tug, besides gunfire wasn't exactly rare in Brockton Bay.

The sound of gunfire in the opposite direction was actually comforting as she relaxed, sure that he'd gotten away as planned. Several minutes went by before the two returned, arguing loudly about something and stopping to pick up loose sheets of newspapers from the floor of the alley to wipe off their boots while she sent a frown emoji to Shadow Stalker, realized her job was done and waited for her friend to return.

"Psst," Shadow Stalker hissed just a few seconds later, making Emma jump, "I'm here, let's beat feet."

Emma crawled back from the edge before getting up and looking at her. Shadow Stalker had a duffel bag on her back and was holding out a hand for Emma to grab so she could ghost them back to the ground. "No problems?" Emma whispered.

"Nah," Stalker said with a grin, "snuck up on the guard they'd left behind, knocked him the fuck out, and cleaned them out."

Emma was surprised to hear there had been a third person in there, but was unsurprised that Stalker had been skilled enough to handle things. She grinned as the world took on a sharper contrast and Stalker pulled her along into her shadow world.

**0o0o0o0o0o**

Jimmy piled the grey sweats and hockey mask on the counter and went down to the engine room to rinse off the sweat, making sure to bring along his sliced up shirt and boxers. The last thing he needed was to have the girls walk in on him naked again.

He easily found his way through the dark halls by touch, used to the dim and sometimes completely absent light. He placed his things on the bench and quickly entered the water. The water felt like it was freezing cold as he ducked under it before quickly resurfacing, shivering, and wiping himself down to get all the water off. He quickly got dressed and climbed up the stairs back to the wheel room.

"I need some lights in here," Jimmy said before yawning. He sat down in his favorite seat and closed his eyes for a moment.

"He's wearing clothes," Sophia said, startling him awake.

Jimmy blinked in the light from Emma's phone. "We should probably take this downstairs," he said while stretching, "I don't want the light attracting attention to this place."

"What is downstairs?" Emma asked curiously.

"Below decks," Sophia corrected the two.

"That too," Jimmy agreed, "but since this tug has been beached and the engine room is actually missing, it's more a building than not."

He led them down the stairs and into a cabin. It wasn't a large room, about half the size of the wheel room and a third of that was the bed. There was a porthole on the left-hand side of the room, covered by cardboard that had been cut to fit.

Sophia tossed her duffel bag on the bed. "Surprised you don't sleep here," she said, as she unzipped it.

"There's only one way out and do you see the patch of tape on the wall?" Jimmy asked as he flipped a switch on a battery-operated light that lit up the room.

"Yeah?" Emma replied, turning off her phone.

"A cape was testing his powers," Jimmy said, "I was sitting at the desk at the time."

"Ouch," Emma said with a wince, realizing how close he'd come to getting hit.

"And here is our take for the night," Sophia said proudly as she dumped out the bag, revealing bundles of cash and a number of leather billfolds.

"Billfolds?" Jimmy said curiously before picking one up and examining the contents. "Oh!"

"Oh?" Emma repeated as she picked one up and looked inside. "IDs without pictures and gift cards?"

"So, they can slot in their own pictures and the gift cards can be used to buy things to fill out their cover without leaving a paper trail," Jimmy explained. "Looks like the stash house was in case they had to have somebody do some traveling, for one reason or another, without being connected to the Empire."

"What do we do with them?" Emma asked.

"Doubt we know anyone safe to fence them to, so drop them off with the police," Jimmy suggested. "It'd keep them from using those IDs in the future, which probably cost them a mint to set up."

"Half the cash is foreign," Sophia said, annoyed.

"Yeah, you can exchange it at the bank, but I'd hold off on that for a while, as any Empire sympathizers at the bank would tip them off as to who was exchanging European currency in suspicious amounts," he said as he examined a bundle.

"Too much to spend all at once anyway," Sophia said, pleased that it was still worth something.

"This is a lot of money," Emma said in wonder.

"Yeah," Jimmy agreed, "but we can't exactly flash it around or go buying out the shops, because that sends up all sorts of red flags to the cops, the capes, and the IRS."

"But we could buy some new gear," Sophia said with a grin, "some decent weapons and costumes to start."

"Yeah, the grey sweats let you blend in, but heroes need to stand out. If you aren't instantly identifiable on sight you could draw friendly fire."

"It also helps the villains realize how fucked they are," Sophia added with a grin.

"Where do capes buy their gear?" Emma asked.

"No clue," Sophia admitted. "Any ideas?" she asked Jimmy.

"Easiest way is to ask one of the independent heroes or rogues," he said, "they have to buy their own, so they would know."

"There are a lot of verified capes on PHO," Emma said, "I could make a throw away account and use one of the school computer to ask around."

"Works for me," Sophia said with a nod. "How do we split this up?" she gestured to their take.

"Half to you, since you were at the most risk," Jimmy suggested, "a quarter to the spotter and distraction."

"You were in a bit more danger than I was," Sophia pointed out, "all I had to do was knock out one idiot, you had to deal with two who were chasing you."

"Turned out to be easy," Jimmy said, deciding that if they were going to be friends, he'd have to trust them. "Rile them up, lure them off, teleport back here."

"Teleport?" Sophia said with a slowly growing grin. "Hah, knew you were a cape!"

"I knew I was a cape too," Jimmy agreed, "I just thought all I could do was turn people's hair blue when I was pissed off."

"You have more than one power?" Emma asked.

"When I'm angry I turn people's hair blue and when I'm about to wet myself staring down the barrel of a gun I can teleport," Jimmy said.

"Better than the other way around," Sophia offered, making him laugh.

"I wonder what other emotions do," Emma said thoughtfully.

"Fight or flight are the two strongest," Sophia said, "but since it's powers it might be something else altogether. Could be you can do either whenever you get emotional or you develop them based on what you need at the moment. Powers are weird. I had to look up a lot of things after I triggered, to get a handle on it."

"Triggered?" Jimmy asked.

"All capes get powers after having the worst day of their life, unless one of their parents was a cape, then they can trigger from just having a really bad day," Sophia said visibly uncomfortable with the topic.

"Huh," Jimmy said. "Lost my parents in a car accident, the same one that gave me this scar, so I can't ask them." He tapped his forehead.

"You could have triggered then," Emma pointed out.

"Nah, I was pretty numb," Jimmy replied, "and my parents seemed more resigned than anything, possibly even amused. They told me to run and hide as there was a battle between a couple of gangs going on around us."

"Sounds like capes," Sophia offered, "so I'm guessing you're second gen, probably from the UK since you still got a bit of an accent."

"You're probably right," Jimmy said with a nod.

"So, your powers could be anything," Emma said. "How do you test something like that?"

"Throw shit at the wall and see what sticks," Sophia said, trying to move things onto a lighter topic. "We can test that out once we get a place."

"We?" Jimmy asked.

"Need a place to crash now and then," Sophia explained. "Mom knows what I'm doing, but doesn't want my little sister to get caught up in it, so I need to keep some stuff someplace else and be able to sleep during the day, so I'm not tired at work, mostly on the weekends."

"Sounds good," Jimmy agreed. "Got some place in mind?"

"Depends," Sophia said, "do you like dogs?"

**Typing by: fyrewolf5**


	4. Chapter 4

"I'm very pro dog," Jimmy replied, "why?"

"To keep junkies from stripping the place, the owner got a handful of dogs and let them loose," Sophia explained. "It wouldn't be so bad if he'd trained them, but really all he does is feed them, so there's basically a pack of wild dogs running around inside the fence."

"I'll feed em," Jimmy said, "as long as I toss in some food every now and again, they should ignore me."

Sophie nodded. "Good, because it's the best place I've found to set up shop. Plenty of space and you don't need to worry about people breaking in."

"So… where is it?" Emma asked.

"Couple of blocks from the boardwalk," Sophia said. "I already talked to the owner. For five hundred he'll ignore us as long as we don't set it on fire or anything."

"How's the utilities?" Jimmy asked.

"Still connected, I've checked," Sophie said. "Plenty of bathrooms, but kinda short on places to shower. That's the only real downside. It was never set up for people to live there."

"You've been very careful to avoid telling us what the place is," Jimmy noted.

Sophia smirked. "I wanna see your face when you see it for yourself."

Jimmy and Emma exchanged glances, neither had known Sophia for that long but she seemed unusually cheerful and smug.

"Trust me, you'll love it," Sophia said, her eyes glittering with amusement.

"Alright, let's take a look," Jimmy said, his curiosity aroused.

"Are the dogs going to be a problem?" Emma asked.

"Nah," Sophia waved it off, "I can ghost you past them, it'll just take two trips."

Jimmy nodded. "I didn't know you could take people with you when you shifted like that."

"It's a bit tiring and I can't do it for long," Sophia explained, "but it makes getting into places easy."

"It's cool as hell," Emma offered, "the world looks like an old black and white movie."

"Then let's pack up and take a look," Jimmy said. "I don't know about you, but it's getting about time for me to sleep anyway." He yawned. "Past time," he corrected himself.

The three quickly sorted everything, the girls' shares going into their backpacks while Jimmy simply stuffed his into pockets and grabbed an old seabag that held the rest of his things.

The walk from the ship graveyard to the boardwalk went quickly as the two practically had to jog to keep up with Sophia, who had pulled up her hood and put back on her mask, prompting Jimmy to do the same. Emma made do with a pink ski mask that was at odds with the dark sweats they were all wearing.

"We really need to get some decent costumes," Jimmy said as they crossed the alley behind the boardwalk.

"Sweats are cheap and blend in," Shadow Stalker said, "they also soak up blood, so you don't leave a lot lying around."

"I'd rather have armor that prevents bleeding in the first place, but you've got a point," Jimmy agreed.

"How much farther?" Emma asked before yawning. It was late enough at night to be just before early morning at this point and she was almost dead on her feet.

"We're coming up on it now," Shadow Stalker said as they exited the alley and she gestured towards the large chain link fence.

The two stared at the fenced off and closed down two story parking garage, damaged and dead vehicles scattered around the first floor from what they could see, and then turned back to Shadow Stalker, both clearly thinking she'd picked the wrong place.

Shadow Stalker laughed. "Not the parking garage, the building connected to it."

There was a growl as a Doberman Pinscher came out from under a van with four flat tires and a shattered windshield.

The girls instinctively stepped back, but Jimmy moved forward, crouched down, and placed the back of his hand against the fence.

"Careful," Shadow Stalker warned him, "they're pretty vicious."

The dog cautiously approached, teeth bared, but Jimmy held his ground and waited. Eventually the dog relaxed and sniffed at his hand through the fence before making a chuffing sound and returning to its den beneath the abandoned van.

"Pretty ballsy," Shadow Stalker said with approval.

"Nah, I get dogs," Jimmy said, "she's probably got a litter of pups under the van. She just wanted to make sure I wasn't a threat."

"I'll take Emma first," Shadow Stalker said, "be back in five."

Jimmy nodded and crossed the street to wait in the alley while Shadow Stalker grabbed Emma's hand and the two figures faded into black smoke that flowed through the wire fencing.

His stomach growled a little, so he opened his seabag and brought out a half full bag of stale donuts. A maple bar quieted his stomach and he'd just finished and put back on his mask when Shadow Stalker returned. "Thought it'd take you longer than that."

"Gates keep the dogs on the first level, so Emma said to grab you so we can all enter at once," she replied, holding out a hand.

Jimmy grabbed her hand. "You sure they can't get up there?"

Stalker nodded. "No piles of dog shit like the lower level, and I've checked it out in daylight. You ready?"

"Yeah, let's do this," he said, eager to see the shadow world Emma had described.

Shadow Stalker activated her power, pushing it to include him with a silent grunt. She gave him a firm pull as the world shifted around them, the colors fading away into sharply contrasted shades of gray.

Jimmy pushed himself to keep up as Shadow Stalker made them run, each step bounding them forward, passing through the fence as if it were a cobweb, quickly followed by a couple of wrecked vehicles and a security gate leading up to the second floor.

Shadow Stalker dropped his hand and rested with her hands on her knees, panting for a second as she regained her breath. "It's a trip, isn't it," she said proudly.

"It's cool, but it seems… familiar," Jimmy said thoughtfully.

"Really?" Shadow Stalker asked.

Jimmy nodded. "It just feels familiar for some reason."

"You two ready?" Emma called down, poking her head down the ramp.

"Just catching our breath," Sophia said, taking off her mask.

Jimmy took his off as well, the early morning air cooling his skin. "So what is the building connected to this place?"

"Right this way," Emma said, waving for them to come to the second floor.

Jimmy put his mask in his seabag and walked up the ramp. The handful of vehicles on the second level were in worse condition than the ones on the first, shattered windows having let in wind and rain, he noted as he glanced around before looking at the two story building connected to the parking garage. "Willowbrook Mall?"

"Not all that large as malls go and the riots caused some major damage, not to mention all the looting, but it'll keep the rain off and give us plenty of space to lair in," Sophia said proudly.

"What's the inside look like?" Jimmy asked as the three approached the second story entrance, the glass doors covered in cracks and dirt but still mostly intact.

"Like a riot happened," Sophia said bluntly. "It ain't the Ritz, but it beats the hell out of a dumpster. Come on, I'll pull you through."

Sophia grabbed Emma's hand and the two quickly became shadows that passed through the doors into the darkened interior.

Jimmy waited and a few seconds later Sophia stepped back through and turned to him, offering her hand.

Jimmy's form turned into black smoke and smacked into glass, turning him solid once more and dropping him on his ass.

"What the fuck?!" Sophia exclaimed, hand still extended.

"I… I didn't grab your hand," Jimmy realized.

"Yeah... New power?" she asked eagerly.

"I guess so," Jimmy said. "Okay, impatience and curiosity lets me bang myself against windows."

Sophia grabbed his shoulder and quickly pulled him through the door and into the mall, feeling drained from extending her power so much in so short a time.

"What was that?" Emma asked.

"He tried to go shadow and pass through the door without me," Sophia explained. "You turned into black smoke."

"Another power?" Emma asked with a smile.

"It doesn't let me walk through walls, but yeah," Jimmy replied as he squinted in the little light leaking through the door and a broken skylight set in the middle of the mall partially covered by a tarp, dimly illuminating the damage the place had taken years ago. "This looks like the set for a post apocalypse movie. Anyone got a torch?"

"Be better to get a flashlight," Sophia said, "a torch could set off the fire alarm, if it still works."

Jimmy chuckled. "Torch is what we call a flashlight back in England."

"Well, I remember they had a Hallmark store on the first level," Sophia said. "Pretty sure there is a candle or two left in there. You guys wait here, I'll be right back."

Emma stepped closer to Jimmy as Sophia vanished, her shadow form impossible to see in the darkness. "This place is kinda spooky," she admitted nervously.

Jimmy slipped an arm around her. "No worries, luv," he said, playing up his accent a bit, "it's just deserted, not haunted or anything."

"You believe in ghosts?" Emma asked, leaning into him and taking comfort in his presence.

"Sure," Jimmy said, "but all they can do is bitch and give people jump scares until they get bored and move on." He was pretty sure he'd seen some ghosts when he was younger, but he couldn't recall the details and didn't care enough to try to remember.

"What about poltergeists?" Emma argued, recalling a scary movie by that name that had been imported from Earth Aleph.

"Those aren't ghosts," Jimmy said, "it's just the mischievous presence of tons of kids collected in one spot. I think I read about it once. They are pests but not truly dangerous, just annoying. Besides, since the place has been empty for so long, any ghost or poltergeist would have moved on from boredom."

Emma relaxed a little, taking comfort from how certain he seemed.

"Anyone got a lighter?" Sophia asked, causing them both to jump. She chuckled at the startled squeaks and mild cussing she'd caused. "I found some candles, but I don't have a lighter on me."

"Let me dig one out," Jimmy said as he let go of Emma, who'd practically jumped into his arms, and searched his pockets. He found a Bic disposable and extended it to Sophia, accidentally poking her in the tit with it.

Sophia wasn't concerned as she quickly found his arm and followed it to his hand, taking the lighter from it and lighting the middle candle in a three-candle candelabra.

The three blinked and looked around, their eyes adjusting to the glow of the candle flame.

"I really could film a horror movie here easy," Jimmy said with a grin, "but it's a good place to set up shop. You seen a furniture store anywhere, one with beds? Cause I am going to bed down for a couple of hours. I'll help you look around when there is some proper daylight leaking in and I'm not half dead."

"Yeah, I already scouted out a place to sleep. The floors are mostly clean, but watch where you step, there's still crap scattered about," Sophia warned them, leading them farther into the mall. "The home furniture place is just a few shops in."

The three walked closer together, the lit candle providing a small circle of light as they avoided scattered trash from an overturned trash can and a pile of mannequins.

"Here it is," Sophia said, stepping into the trashed furniture store through the shattered front window as the security gate was down over the entrance.

Glass crunched underfoot as they entered, taking in the mess that had been made of the place.

Sophia righted an end table and set the candelabra down. "Let's just grab a bunch of bedding and pillows, I don't feel like trying to put together a bed by candlelight."

"That looks like a good mattress," Jimmy said as he moved some chairs out of the way and dropped his seabag, so he could lay down a box spring and mattress set from an overturned bedroom set.

"I'm not bothering with sheets," Sophia said as she collected pillows.

"Not like I'm picky," Jimmy agreed as he aligned the mattress on the box spring and moved some furniture around to block anyone that passed by from seeing them. Sure, it was a closed down mall with a group of half feral dogs guarding it, but why take chances?

Emma stripped comforters from several different beds, finding most had blankets that were little more than sheets. Collecting half a dozen she spread them on the bed with Jimmy's help.

"That should be thick enough to keep me warm," Jimmy decided as he moved a dresser to act as a headboard so the pillows wouldn't fall off the bed.

"Even warmer with all three of us," Sophia said bluntly as she took off her boots.

"Pardon?" Jimmy asked.

"You gay?" Sophia asked, sliding off her socks and stuffing them in her boots.

"No."

"Seeing someone?" she asked before taking off her hoodie, revealing a thin white T-shirt.

"No," he replied as she slid off her sweat pants, revealing her slender but muscular legs.

"Find us ugly?"

"Not remotely," Jimmy said, unable to keep his eyes from roaming up and down her in the flickering candlelight.

"Then you really have anything to complain about?" she asked as she pulled down the covers and crawled in.

Jimmy opened his mouth, paused, and shrugged. "Not really, I just don't want to feel like I'm taking advantage of anyone."

Sophia laughed. "If anyone's in charge, it ain't you, it's me, and we aren't at that stage yet. Now, strip down and climb in, pulling you both through the shadows has got me wiped."

Jimmy laughed. "Yes Ma'am!" He stripped down to his boxers and slid in next to her. Sophia immediately pulled him close to her and snuggled in. He could tell from the way she was breathing and the slight trembling in her arms that she wasn't as confident as she'd sounded, but as he slid an arm around her, she relaxed.

Emma was surprised by this turn of events, but the thought of sleeping next to her protectors made her smile, so she quickly blew out the candle and got undressed. As she nervously slid under the covers she wondered if she should move close or give them room, but Jimmy's arm pulled her in and for the first time in weeks… she felt safe.

**Typing by: Abyssal Angel**

**TN: Tapping into the movies now? I never understood where the creative license for the Death Eater's smoke form even came from. The books never hinted at it at all…**

**AN: I like the visuals, so I decided to use it or at least something similar. **


	5. Chapter 5

Jimmy woke up feeling warm and comfortable, which immediately made him tense up… until he remembered what had happened and then he relaxed a little, but not too much because he really had to pee and he was being weighed down by the two girls laying partially on top of him.

If he had his way he'd simply lay there and enjoy the first positive human contact he'd had in a long while, but his bladder was rather insistent that he take care of matters as soon as possible.

Jimmy cautiously tried to scoot upwards, but the girls' arms tightened, holding him in place. If he didn't have to pee so badly he'd have found the whole thing amusing.

He considered teleporting, but the idea that he could make himself feel enough fear to activate that power in this situation was laughable. Of course he had one more option in terms of Mover abilities, so he thought about how he'd done it, trying to recall the exact feeling he'd had when his body had turned into black smoke, right before he'd smacked into the glass door like a bug on a windshield.

Jimmy's body instantly turned into black smoke, barely visible in the dim light leaking through the front of the store and fled out of the girls' grasp, causing them to drop onto the mattress and bounce a little.

Sophia instantly came awake, her eyes shooting open and darting around anxiously, until she recalled where she was and spotted Jimmy reforming at the foot of the bed.

"Bathroom," Jimmy said urgently and quickly darted towards the back of the store in search of a place to pee.

Sophia snorted, amusement dancing in her eyes for a brief second before Emma latched onto her like an octopus and pulled her across the bed with strength she hadn't known the young redhead possessed. She tried to wiggle free, but the young girl's arms refused to yield. Deciding Jimmy had the right idea, Sophia turned to shadow and rolled out of bed.

Emma let out a small whine of distress, still deep asleep, her hands questing for her bedmates.

Sophia despised weakness and would normally just sneer at Emma's behavior, but memories of her own frequent nightmares came to the fore, and she gave into impulse as she turned back to normal, to shove a couple of pillows in her friend's arms.

Emma squeezed the pillows to herself, calming down and letting out a small sigh of relief. Sophia watched her for a moment before turning to follow Jimmy, as she found she needed to pee as well.

She didn't know if there was a bathroom back there, but since Jimmy hadn't returned she figured he must have found somewhere to piss. She ghosted through the dimly lit store and its tangle of overturned furniture to the back, where she found light leaking under a door just off the manager's office.

She didn't hesitate to pass through the door into a well lit small bathroom where she found Jimmy with his boxers off and his balls in the sink with the water running.

"You piss on yourself?" she joked as she solidified, making him jump while she tried not to laugh.

"No," Jimmy replied, "just keeping my package clean. I'm not walking around with dirty balls, cause jock itch sucks."

"Fair enough," she glanced at the toilet and saw there was at least a quarter of a roll left. "Emma's still out, but you can go wake her unless you wanna stand there and watch me take a piss."

"Not one of my kinks," Jimmy said, as she dropped her panties and sat down. He snatched up his boxers and turned to smoke, but instead of smacking into the door as she expected, his form slid through the crack at the bottom.

"His powers not as good as mine, but it's not half bad," Sophia decided as she started peeing, glad he hadn't called her bluff as she didn't think she could pee with him there.

Jimmy reformed on the other side of the door and picked his way through the mess back to the bed. He dropped his boxers on his clothes as he was still a little damp and needed to air dry a bit more.

He looked out into the mall and guessed it was almost noon from the angle of the sunlight leaking around the tarp covering the damaged skylights. "Hey, Emma, time to wake up," he said loudly, getting a mumbled response from the girl that in no way resembled speech. "Emma, time to get up," he tried again.

"What?" Emma muttered as she came awake and noticed she was clutching a pillow and that Jimmy was standing at the foot of the bed, backlit by the daylight peaking into the mall, making his genitals sparkle. She found it strangely artistic. "Where are your boxers?" she asked, wondering why his crotch was damp.

"On my pants," Jimmy replied. "I'll get dressed in a couple of minutes."

She sat up and stretched. "Where's Sophia?"

"Using the bathroom," he replied.

Emma ran her fingers through her hair to get rid of the tangles as she wondered what had happened while she was asleep that had left Jimmy's junk damp and Sophia using the bathroom. Had Sophia and Jimmy been having sex while she slept next to them?! Her face flushed as she pictured the two, Jimmy lying in between Sophia's spread legs, thrusting as she muffled her moans in his shoulder, his boxers kicked off while Sophia's panties hung from one ankle, swinging back and forth as the two bounced on the mattress with an oblivious Emma sleeping next to them.

"Sophia should be finished washing up in a minute," Jimmy said, breaking her from her increasing lurid thoughts. "I figure we'll poke around and see what's in here, now that we've got a bit more light."

"Sounds like fun," Emma said, as she got up. "Where's the bathroom?"

"Small door in the back right corner," Jimmy replied, "there'll be light leaking under the door."

"Thanks," Emma said as she got up, suddenly acutely aware that she was only wearing a t-shirt and panties. She imagined she could feel his eyes on her as she walked. The door to the bathroom opened, lighting up the area as Sophia stepped out.

"Hey Ems," she greeted her, "Jimmy's balls dry off yet?"

Emma's eyes widened, they had, had sex! "He's still just wearing a shirt," she offered before ducking into the bathroom.

Sophia snickered and made her way to the front of the store where Jimmy was getting dressed. "We should get some bulbs so we can get a little more light in this place."

"And a ladder to install them," Jimmy added, gesturing to the ceiling far above before grabbing his clothes. "I suppose we can find some lamps in here somewhere and plug them in, there's bound to be a couple. The store lights can wait a bit." He slipped on his boxers and pulled up his pants.

"That's a good idea," Sophia said, losing interest in watching Jimmy, now that he was mostly dressed and poking around the store to see if any lamps had survived with their bulbs intact.

Jimmy used a Bic disposable lighter to light a candle, but after looking around he blew it out, as it didn't provide much more light than they already had and they'd probably need it later when the sun went down.

The pair quickly discovered that most of the furniture in the store was intact if a little banged up from being thrown around. Apparently furniture wasn't a big target for theft during a riot.

"Got a floor lamp with a bulb that isn't broken," Sophia announced as she brought over a four foot tall black metal floor lamp with a dented shade. "See a plug anywhere?"

"Right over here," Jimmy said, setting aside the desk lamp he'd found, which had a shattered bulb and pushing aside a sofa cushion to reveal a pair of three prong outlets set in the floor.

Sophia plugged it in and it immediately lit up, providing some decent light to see the area around them. "That's better," she said.

"You picked the perfect spot to use as a base," Jimmy complimented her. "We'll have to scout out ways to get in and out that can't be spied on, but this beats the hell out of any place I can think of."

"No shower, but it's got everything else," Sophia said proudly, "and all we gotta do is pay a little cash and keep out thieves."

"Which the dogs mostly handle," Jimmy said. "Bound to be a store in here with shower fixtures and if not we can buy some and set one up in one of the backrooms."

"You know how to install a shower?" Sophia asked curiously as she started getting dressed and Emma returned.

"I've read up on it," Jimmy said, "doesn't look too difficult, and plumbing's something everyone should know how to handle or at least enough not to get ripped off by a plumber."

Emma got dressed, a bit embarrassed to be half naked in front of Jimmy with the lights on. "I know daddy always complains about plumbing bills."

"If there was a bookstore in here they probably cleaned out all their stock, unlike most of the stores, or we could read up on it," Sophia said, the idea of not having to rely on people, because they always let you down when you needed them most, and Jimmy's philosophy of training yourself to handle anything life threw at you being something she could really get behind.

"There are a lot of do-it-yourself channels on Youtube," Emma offered, "I've seen some on plumbing while looking up beauty tips."

"Doubt the owner of this place has it wired for internet and getting it done would probably send up red flags to all the Thinkers," Sophia said.

"I'll up my data plan and use my phone to connect," Emma said, "I saw a geek in the AV club use his phone to watch cartoons on a school computer so I know it can be done."

"We'll have to buy a laptop, but it's not like we can't afford it," Sophia said smugly, "that stash house was loaded."

Jimmy grinned. "They'll probably up their security on the rest of them, making them easier to find since they'll have more guards, and when they relax and lower their security, we can hit another one."

Sophia laughed. "I wonder how paranoid we can make them by doing that."

"Paranoid and angry enough that we should probably have separate cape identities for it," Jimmy suggested.

"Kinda hard to hide my powerset," Sophia pointed out.

"The thing where I turn into smoke is close enough to cause confusion but different enough to let them know it's a different cape," Jimmy said. "If you are seen using your power in a fight with the Merchants while I'm hitting a stash house they'll assume Shadow Stalker isn't involved at all."

"I can see that working," Sophia said slowly, "as long as I use my power like you would yours, they'll think I'm you."

"We need costumes, obviously different costumes," Emma said, "because right now the Friday the 13th look is just used by Shadow Stalker."

"And practice to see what tricks we can figure out with our powers," Sophia added. "Several major capes started out as minor ones until they figured out new ways to use their powers."

"How does that work with grab bag heroes?" Jimmy asked.

"Same as with heroes with a single strong power, just using the various powers I expect," Sophia said. "How many powers do you have so far?"

"Teleport, smoke form, and changing people's hair color to blue," Jimmy said. "Anger is the trigger for the hair color, fear for the teleport, and…" his voice trailed off for a moment, "smoke form doesn't have an emotional trigger, I just will it."

"So Mover, Breaker state, and Blaster?" Emma asked.

"So far," he agreed.

"You'll just have to experiment with each one and any new ones you come up with," Sophia said, "but that's all something to do later, for now let's -" Sophia's stomach rumbled, "go get some lunch."

"I could eat," Jimmy agreed.

"We should probably get you some better clothes so we don't stand out," Emma suggested. "Think there are any clothes he can wear here?"

"Probably, but my stomach isn't going to wait," Sophia said. "How about I go get some take out while you two do whatever?"

"We can straighten up a bit more, maybe find a couple more lamps," Jimmy agreed. "Kinda nice to be able to relax and not have to worry about stray blasts interrupting my reading."

"Cool, be back shortly," Sophia said before shifting into shadow and sinking through the floor.

Jimmy turned to Emma. "She did that just because it looks cool as fuck, didn't she?"

Emma grinned. "It's what I would do, because it did look cool as fuck!"

Jimmy laughed. "Come on, let's see if we can find some more working lights and maybe a table and chairs."

**Typing by: fyrewolf5**

**TN: Emma's got quite the active imagination there.**

**AN: Teenage hormones.**


End file.
